Where Do the Unbabies Go?

I decided to focus my artwork on a brief event in chapter 8. On Offred and Ofglen walk home, a funeral of three women – an Econowife, a mourner, and her friend possibly – pass by them. “The first one is the bereaved, the mother; she carries a small black jar. From the size of the jar you can tell how old it was when it foundered, inside her, flowed to its death”[page 44]. I want to draw the jars of dead babies. I imagine it to be foggy inside the jar instead of a solid black color. I drew some texture inside the jar so it looked like particles instead of a smooth, solid black liquid.

I drew small puddles of blood to resemble death. I could only imagine how they got the dead baby out of the women. Since people of Gilead only do natural birth, I doubt they use any medication to help ease pain for the women if they were in pain before or after their birth.

I wanted to use a vibrant red color to represent the recurring red symbol in the book. “Everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us” [page 8]. Red represents blood which is what makes a person. So red is in you. Why are Handmaids the only ones wearing red? The symbol of the color red is unclear but I do have many theories. Much like the theory I recently stated, Red is resembling bodies, but bodies who are capable of getting pregnant. I do think it could be an idea but I also feel as though blood has a negative connotation. The war could be a factor. I think blood on your hands (murder) is a bad thing if it is for the wrong cause. “Sometimes they’ll be there for days, until there’s a new batch, so as many people as possible will have the chance to see them.” For men to be hanged to show Gilead’s power. The murder is on Gilead, not the people who hanged them on the Wall. The bloody men on the Wall is okay but blood is to show fear or instill fear.

I drew a table in the background to show how people of Gilead don’t know where dead babies go, let alone dead people. It is an interesting concept in the book where they’re aren’t really a lot of old people in the world. I imagine it’s like leaving something on a table in your house. If someone else walks by, the person may wonder whose it is. There is a select amount to choose from. I don’t know why I thought of it like that. Pregnancy is not common and celebrated largely in Gilead. So if someone sees a black jar, there is only a select group of people who may claim the jar. So it is a process of elimination and determining the timeline to which they may figure out who the baby belongs to. This probably doesn’t make any sense but that is how I thought of it. I do hope they bury the baby but they could also repurpose it in a way (fuel..?).

Overall, I really wanted people to focus on the jars and I put Gilead right next to the jars on purpose so viewers can see what Gilead is doing to premature babies.